So there is this sense in which the story of a developing writer is the story of someone learning even before they learn how to control language fully that language has these capacities.

书要讲给我们的,其实就是有关理查学习的过程,告诉我们语言在还无法很好被控制的时候,就已经有能力改变理查的生活。

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选